Lately, I have been around people who are not as fortunate as me to always have their dad around. I have experienced a lot of people who have either lost their dad at a young age, or their parents are divorced and they are not able to see their dad's as much as they would like to. All of this has made me appreciate my dad even more. I am lucky enough not only to see my dad every day, but have a close relationship with him where I can tell him anything and he will always be there.

Like most people, I have experienced a time where I almost lost my dad and to this day, it still brings me nightmares. Around this time last year, my family had all gone to be like any other night, but little did we know that our lives would have changed when we woke up. It's scary how you remember each specific detail from specific days no matter what time of the day it was.

The time was approximately 12:30 a.m. I had just ended my first year of college and it was actually my first day off. My mom always says how she woke up to a huge crash, thinking a car came into the house. But, when she turned next to her to see if my dad was ok, he was gone. My mom had started screaming, and this is when I woke up. I ran to see what had occurred, but what I found was my dad laying on the floor in the bathroom unconscious.

I remember everything that happened at that moment, some things to explicit too write about, but what I will always remember is the tears running down my mom's face. I thought over and over in my head this is the last time I will ever see my dad. He is dead. He is dead.

While all of this was occurring in my head, my mom was still screaming my dad's name. Barry, wake up. Barry, come on. Barry, we need you. It was a total nightmare. I started to tell my mom that she needed to call 911 because we couldn't let him just stay there on the floor.

Eventually, my dad started opening his eyes from all the screaming and crying. But, he was also screaming from the amount of pain he was in. He was holding his chest, so the first thought that came to our mind was heart attack. My mom started to give my dad baby aspirin just in case this was what happened. It's scary that when you reach a certain age of your life because you are more likely to have health problems.

When the ambulance came, we found out my dad most likely did not have a heart attack. But, something definitely happened to cause his downfall. After many days in the hospital, we found out my dad broke a very sensitive bone in his back and his heart experiences A-fib at certain times.

While my dad's A-fib will come and go, there is always part of me that worries if something like this will ever occur again. I am thankful to still have my dad today. I feel that this incident not only made me appreciate my dad more but just showed me how much I love him.